My new favorite Irish song!

     It's by the High Kings, of course, and I dare you to listen to it just once. I may or may not have listened to it at least 20 times over the past two days...

     'Phil the Fluther's Ball' (or Fluter, depending on your source) is sadly not a song included on any of their albums, which would explain why I had somehow overlooked it until now. I must have heard it at least once before, because they perform it during their original recorded concert that is based on their first album that came out way back in 2007. But how I was not immediately captivated by this foot-tapping song, I'll never know.

     To my great excitement, Brian Dunphy (one of the High Kings, if you didn't know already) did record this song on a solo album Timeless, and it sounds almost identical. It is missing the magical blend that the four of them have together, but it is still a cracking song that is hard to stop listening to!

     And now, for your listening pleasure, I present the High Kings performing 'Phil the Fluther's Ball':

In Dublin's Fair City: Ireland Day 2

"You never know when you're going to meet eleven people on the street and have a tea party."

The view for breakfast!

    Today I woke up to - you guessed it - a cloudy, drizzly sky. But as anyone who knows me will tell you, cold and rain are my preferred sort of weather, so I was pleased. I mean, to be honest, I would actually be disappointed if it wasn't rainy in Ireland. 

     To make the day even better, Lauren had the day off, and we spent the afternoon wandering around the paths of Phoenix Park. It's an unexpected 3 square miles of green in the west of the city, and there are all sorts of surprises hidden in those grounds!

Just one of the scenic routes of Phoenix Park.

     We walked past some lovely flower beds that looked especially bright on such a grey day, and as we went on we also came across a race, an enormous monument to the Duke of Wellington, a herd of deer, countless trees, and miles of paths.

It's an amazing park:

• It's home to the Dublin Zoo
• It's 351 years old
• It's the largest in Europe

And, as Lauren and I could tell you, it is a very nice place for a walk, even in November. In warmer weather (I suppose even Dublin has dry pleasant weather sometimes) it would be the perfect place for a picnic!

The striking Wellington Monument: an icon of Phoenix Park.

Craning our necks to take in the monument from top to bottom. It's rather tall...

     The Wellington Monument has a bronze relief on each side that is actually made from French cannons used at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815! They depict some of his famous battles.

One of the enchanting paths criss-crossing the park.

 

And there they were!

     I think we were just as surprised to see the herd of deer as they were to see us. They were magnificent! That was along a lovely trail near the American Ambassador's Residence, which we were not expecting to see right in the middle of a public park. But there it was!

     As we made our way out on the main road (Chesterfield Avenue) we stopped at the Phoenix Park Tea Rooms for some much needed warm liquid. It only really rained on our way out, so happily we didn't need to dry off while we drank our hot chocolate and coffee. But it rained again while we were walking to find a bus after lunch, and that is what finally soaked my poor shoes.

      (Note to potential travelers: make sure your shoes are actually waterproof before you go on your trip. Otherwise, you might have to wait three days for them to dry... like I did. That Dublin air is damp.)

"I would never say no something that contains the words Irish and breakfast..."

     Before heading back to the apartment for a night of games, Lauren and I stopped by the Saturday market in Meeting House Square. This is where I tasted my first cronut – but more on that later. Then two of us decided to split an Irish breakfast roll! I would never say no something that contains the words Irish and breakfast, which are two of my favorite kinds of food.

     Then a bunch of friends from the University College Dublin intern program and from Lauren's church family came over and we played games for 6 hours, including the uproarious Fishbowl. 

     (For those of you who have never played this hilarious game, it consists of two teams playing three rounds: #1 is when each person on the team tries to get their teammates to guess as many words as possible that have been written out on little bits of paper put in a bowl, #2 is the same, except that they can only use one word, and #3 is the same again, except that you can't say anything and have to act it out.)

     We had a few rather hilarious conversations, and one of my favorite remarks of the night was from Eoin. It is too amusing not to share, so I'll quote it for you. He told us he thought it would be a good idea to carry eleven tea bags in his pocket because, "You never know when you're going to meet eleven people on the street and have a tea party." 😂 (Now, in my opinion, that's being prepared!)

     Once Lauren and I had the apartment pretty much to ourselves, we had dinner and began catching her up on Downton Abbey – she hadn't seen season 4 yet. It was quite a lovely way to end the day!



© Anna Morton 2017

The Rocky Road to Dublin: Ireland Day 1

      A couple of years ago I took a very low-budget trip to Ireland and had the adventure of a lifetime! It was about as low-budget as possible, thanks to my old friend Lauren who invited me to stay with her while she was working as an intern at Dublin City College for a few months – she was even able to help me get a cheaper flight because her dad works with United Airlines!

     The other things that made it such a low-budget trip were 1) we walked nearly everywhere, and 2) almost always shopped in grocery stores for our meals. It's amazing how much of Dublin can be seen on foot! I had not expected it to be so manageable, but I was able to walk from the Grand Canal all the way up to the Dublin Writer's Museum in one afternoon, which are on opposite sides of the city.


     It worked out for me to take the trip in November. One might – quite correctly – guess that it is rather a cold time of year to visit this damp, chilly country. But even in November, Ireland has its own particular charms.

     It was windy, rainy, damp and cold, and without warm clothes I would have been rather miserable, but those same elements are all a part of the Ireland experience, and make every cup of tea and coffee that much more enjoyable! 

     I will never fly standby again, if I can avoid it – at least by myself. It involves too much waiting around and wondering if your name will be called or if you'll have to wait until the next day for the next flight. This would be much more tolerable if there were friends waiting with you. So I would recommend to have travel companions if you choose to fly standby.



     That being said, I did make it on my designated flight, and got to sit next to two very kind older gentlemen. It was an overnight flight, so after the few hours of sleep I was able to snatch we arrived in Dublin. I got a lovely sunrise view of Ireland's west coast!

Watching the sun rise over Ireland.
Definitely a perk of overnight flights.

     It was early afternoon by the time I got out of the airport and hopped on a bus going into the city to meet Lauren. I only brought my new 20x16 rolling suitcase and a small backpack because I like to travel very light, and this came in handy when Lauren and I walked back to her apartment from the bus stop.

      Being that I hadn't had lunch yet, we went straight back out again. It felt like we walked all over Dublin! But really it was mostly shopping on Grafton street... And Lauren surprised me by taking me to a play in the top of Bewley's Oriental Cafe! It was part of my graduation present from her. It was a one-man show about mid-twentieth century Dublin, and it included a delicious discounted lunch of soup with bread.

The picturesque Victorian Bewley's Cafe!

Lauren spoiling me. :)

      We went down to the next floor to have some dessert: an enormous berry scone with coffee and tea. There was something quite Victorian about Bewley's, with all of the dark polished wood and potted palm plants. It has been around since 1840, so that's probably why.

The atmospheric interior of Bewley's. Including the counter where you can buy tea and scones to bring home!

  

Everywhere we went in Ireland I saw enormous scones!
I'd say these are proper scones.

     Then we went to the Little Museum of Dublin, and had a very entertaining guide who told us some stories about Dublin's history. Admission is 8 Euros for most visitors, 6 Euros for students. The museum was filled with mementos from Dublin, lots of them from before and during the Easter Rising in 1916 and Irish Independence in 1921, then going all the way up to U2 memorabilia.

The elegant Georgian facade of the Little Museum of Dublin in the daylight.

That delightful green door at night.

     The Museum is right across from St Stephen's Green, so we took a walk through the park there and found the bridge! To me this bridge is famous for appearing in Leap Year with Amy Adams and Matthew Goode... ;) But it is certainly beautiful in its own right! During the Museum tour we were told that during the 1916 Rising, members of the ICA (Irish Citizen Army) dug trenches in the Green. The park was so beautiful, that it was hard to imagine such a traumatic struggle taking place there.

      Then we went on to do a little more shopping in Grafton Street. It's almost impossible not to be drawn to this spot because you go out of the arched gate in the corner of the Green straight onto Grafton Street. It's a pedestrian only area, and it's always filled with people, which gives it quite a festive vibe at nearly any time of day! There are several chain clothing stores, a Marks & Spencer clothing and grocery store, restaurants, and Bewley's Oriental Cafe and Butler's Hot Chocolate. Definitely irresistible to this traveler.

I loved Grafton Street! It's a bit tourist-y, but not in a commercial way. It's just popular.

     Then we had dinner at the International Cafe that Lauren's church puts on for students. That was great fun! Everyone was friendly and easy to talk to. Many if them are foreign students practicing their English, but there were these two Irish guys who were absolutely hilarious!! The proverbial Irish "gift of gab" is totally an accurate stereotype. There is definitely a higher percentage of witty Irish people than in any other group of people I've encountered.

     Then it was time to trek back through Dublin's unique blend of Georgian and modern buildings to the apartment so I could crash. :) Lauren shared the apartment with two very thoughtful flatmates. One of them even slept on the couch so I could have a bed! It was a spacious apartment for being practically in the middle of the city, and had a pleasant view from the balcony doors. It is located in the southeast part of the main city, sort of between Merrion Square and the Grand Canal Dock Train, and it seems like a fairly decent part of town. During the day I'd feel safe walking around by myself, and it still feels pretty safe if I'm walking with Lauren at night.

On the way back to the apartment.

"It is a very pleasant room!"
Elizabeth Bennet

Can't have an Irish kitchen without an electric kettle...

     Today it was cold!! Windy and cold, but also was sunny. Definitely my kind of weather, although I shall be on the lookout for a warmer coat and some winter accessories to keep out that chilly wind that blows into every crevice that isn't bundled up. That starts to feel distinctly uncomfortable when you're spending hours a day walking in the outdoors. My black raincoat would be sufficient in a California November, but then our winters always were deplorable. Thankfully, Dublin should have a few thrift stores! And, shopping happens to be one of my favorite things to do when I'm traveling.

 Tomorrow: Phoenix Park and tea with the girls!


Thanks for reading!





© Anna Morton 2017

Lingering in Chawton: Our Last Day

| The incomparable Chawton House Library. |

England 2015 Trip Journal
Wednesday, April 14

The view from our window.

     Now at last I am writing of our final full day on this memorable trip. We spent it in one of the places – perhaps the place – we love most: Chawton (which includes the Alton Secondhand Books store, of course). Our early start turned into leaving at 11:00, but we still had ample time to soak it all in. Chawton was our first port of call, and as we drove there I tried to imprint on my memory the look of the cheerful green fields and woods all around us with the sun shining, and the prospect of being on our way to a place we love so much while some Jane Austen music played in the car.

     We spent some time really looking in the Jane Austen's House Museum shop and at their used book table for souvenirs. I found another magazine that I could give as a gift, Mom found a book for me on language in Jane's books and a mug, and some postcards and a teaspoon she picked out for souvenirs.

The utterly pleasant main street of Chawton, with Jane Austen's House Museum on one side and Cassandra's cup on the other.

Jane Austen's House Museum glowing in the spring sunshine!

 

     A good lunch was then in order– at Cassandra's Cup, of course. It is pleasantly relaxing to go in a place long before they are scheduled to close and when it is full of fellow customers enjoying themselves like you are. We each got the toasted ham and cheese sandwich with a cup of bacon and lentil soup, which was quite filling, even after I had saved one half of my sandwich by stashing it in my purse wrapped in a napkin. We decided to forego tea (shocking, I know) and share a dessert: a rhubarb crumble with custard, which we enjoyed immensely. There was a poster of of teacup designs from 1785-1820 that we were looking at, pointing out our favorites to each other, and noticing how many of them looked as if they could be contemporary. (We are easily amused when it comes to tea...)

Cassandra's Cup, newly painted green.

A delicious toasted ham and cheese sandwich.

     Then it was time to leave our traditional table by the window in the front room of Cassandra's Cup to walk just down the road to the grounds of Chawton House. On our way, a man getting out of his van asked us if we knew where Chawton House Library was. It was surprising enough that he was right there on the road and didn't know, but we were rather amazed when he told us that he lived only 10 miles from there and had never been to the house before!

     We saw at least a dozen lambs in the field to the right as we walked up the drive! One of them had gotten out, who we found among the daffodils. We got pretty close to him, but he squeezed back under the fence when Mom tried to pet him.

     It felt so exciting to be back as we walked through the open gate up to the door, like we were old friends coming for a visit. The two ladies volunteering inside the house were the most cheerful people we'd met on this trip so far. They were just so happy and seemed so pleased to give us our tickets and let us know that the kitchen was open if we'd like to pop in for some tea after touring the gardens. I had half-hoped to see Jeremy Knight again, and I thought it would have been nice to have his company as we walked around the grounds, but he was nowhere to be seen. There didn't seem to be scheduled tours anymore, unlike last time when you had to book a place before you could even go inside. Now you simply walk up – which I admit I do prefer.

Chawton House itself! In Jane's day, the walls were covered in white stucco.

     What a warm, pleasant day it was! The warmest day of the year, BBC told us. And warm enough to make walking in the shade comfortable. There were scores of yellow primroses blooming inside and outside the walled garden. Jane's brother Edward Austen-Knight began building this part of the garden while Jane was still at Chawton. He re-designed all of the gardens, and I could just imagine Jane and Cassandra visiting him, telling him how well they liked his improvements.

Edward Austen's walled garden, filled with apple trees, strawberries and vegetables.

 

     We walked around the little wilderness to the lime walk, then turned into the wilderness to explore its criss-crossing paths. All of the trees were practically bare, but the ground was carpeted by little purple flowers and soft green grass. I wanted to just spread a blanket on the ground and sit there for hours – thinking, writing and having the odd cup of tea.

    But I couldn't do that, at least not today, so we decided we might as well go. Although not without peeking in the gift shop, and even though we didn't buy anything, we looked at some more Jane Austen books that were quite interesting, such as a recipe collection of the Knight family.

"A prettyish little widerness..."

Jane loved to walk in this little wilderness – and so did we!

A back view of Chawton House.

     Our last view was of a tranquil house, with no one but ourselves to enjoy it. In fact during the whole of our visit we only saw five other people visiting. I just wanted to linger at every place we passed on our way out: the front of the house, the gate, the entrance to St. Nicholas's church, the gravel walk, the daffodils, the lambs, the trees, the stone wall – I did not want to leave them, and could hardly bear the thought of them all continuing on without me being there to see it. So I it was impossible not to gaze back at the House for as long as I could as we drove away.

 

Lingering one last time at Chawton House...

     When I think of England – every place we went – I feel such a longing to see it all continuing on. Including even the regular everyday places like Costa Coffee, Sainsbury's, and Boots drugstore (because my sunburn that I had accidentally acquired at Lyme the day before was being uncomfortably troublesome, meaning I required aloe vera), our last three stops in Alton.

   We decided to have some coffee at Costa instead of doing more shopping in the charity shops, so we grabbed a brownie from Caffé Nero – those utterly delicious Belgian chocolate ones – a mocha from Costa, and a copy of The Times, and sat outside the Alton Costa shop by the little stream. We  enjoyed reading about the general election and the Conservative Party manifesto out in the pleasant evening air when we were joined by a duck surrounded by ducklings as they were swimming along in the water.

The most delicious brownie in the world.

This little family joined us for coffee.

Our view: the old mill in Alton.
Love this place.

     Then it was time to pop across the road to Sainsbury's for some travel snacks like nuts, cheese, lunch meat, grapes, and chocolate, of course. We told the cashier where we were from, and she welcomed us, then after we mentioned that we'd been there for six weeks already told us she hoped we'd enjoyed ourselves. Another example of English friendliness. :) We put some more gas in the car, and had the unusual experience of going through the car wash there at Sainsbury's. We also wanted to vacuum it out, but the vacuums were broken at two different stations. I won't say too much about packing. Only that it was a bit impressive to me that I could get all our new books in my bags, and that as a consequence, my suitcase was as heavy as a rock.

............................................

     The next morning we got off to Gatwick airport smoothly. After dropping off the car we even had time to stop in the Caffé Nero upstairs before going through security – to grab one last mocha to toast our unforgettable time in this incomparable country!

England, it's been grand!

© Anna Morton 2017